The Business Of Baseball

#5 Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs*
are owned by Tribune Company,
who bought them in
1981
for $21 mil.

2008 Wins-to-player cost ratio8 83

Valuation Breakdown

The skinny
Major League Baseball approved the sale of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and a 25% interest in a regional sports cable network for $900 million in January to the Ricketts family, whose patriarch, J. Joe Ricketts, founded TD Ameritrade. The value of the team, including the revenue it receives from the stadium and cables rights fees, was placed at about $700 million by sports bankers and as of April the deal had not closed. Although the Ricketts family did not have the highest bid, they had the most cash to put up for the purchase. MLB allows teams to finance roughly 10 times earnings of teams being acquired.

Facility Information

Sport: Portion of franchise's value attributable to revenue shared among all teams.
Market: Portion of franchise's value attributable to its city and market size.
Stadium: Portion of franchise's value attributable to its stadium.
Brand Management: Portion of franchise's value attributable to the management of its brand.
Revenues and operating income are for 2008 season and are net of revenue sharing.
NA: Not applicable.Team Logos Courtesy MLB.

*Sale to Ricketts family pending.
1Value of team based on current stadium deal (unless new stadium is pending) without deduction for debt (other than stadium debt).
2Current team value compared with latest transaction price.
3Includes stadium debt.
4Net of stadium revenues used for debt payments.
5Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
6Includes benefits and bonuses.
7Includes club seats.
8Compares the number of wins per player payroll relative to the rest of the MLB. Postseason wins count twice as much as regular season wins. A score of 120 means that the team achieved 20% more victories per dollar of payroll compared with the league average. Photos AP